Grant held a finger up to Henley, indicating for him to wait, as he answered the phone call, “Stevens.”
“Lieutenant Norris here, sir. Is there a problem?”
“Lieutenant, you just flew Lieutenant Adler here to St. Mawgan.”
“Yes, sir, we did.”
“We need to ‘requisition’ your chopper for awhile.”
“Don’t understand, sir.” Norris shot a glance over to his co-pilot, Lieutenant Taylor, as he shrugged his shoulders.
“Security matter, Lieutenant. Have you completed refueling?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Do you know where the EOD building is?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Okay. There’s a field just behind it for you to land. Give us about fifteen minutes to get our gear. I’ll explain when we board. But be prepared for immediate takeoff.”
“Aye, aye, sir.”
“Let’s go, Joe,” Grant said, leading Adler into Henley’s office.
Once the door was closed, Grant said, “Assume you two have met?” Both men nodded. “Okay. Here’s the short version of what happened this morning when I met Gunny Baranski at the harbor.” Grant filled both men in on the details he had.
When he finished, he looked at Henley. “Jack, Joe and I will get our gear and have the chopper fly us out to the area. We’ll see if we can find anything that’ll give us a clue.”
“What should I do?” Henley asked with obvious concern showing on his face.
“Nothing you can do for now. Any luck on that phone call?”
Henley shook his head. “I tried at least five times, but no answer.”
Grant didn’t expect there would be. He turned toward the door, then looked back at Henley. “On second thought, there is something you can do. Try and find out if that Shackleton located any bodies. Let us know before the chopper lifts off.”
Henley started to reach for the phone, when Grant asked, “You haven’t talked to Victoria, have you?”
Henley shook his head. “No. I don’t know what to tell her.”
“Nothing, Jack. You tell her nothing for the time being. Listen, can you stay here until we get back? I don’t have a timeframe, but I may need to talk with you again.”
“Sure. I’ll wait.”
Grant nodded. As he and Adler got to the outer office, Grant stopped. “Wait up, Joe.” He walked over to the desk and grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil. As he wrote, he said to Becker, “Chief, have one of the petty officers go to the Atlantic Hotel. Tell him to give this note to Miss Abigail Hall. She works at the front desk. All my stuff’s in my room and already packed. Appreciate it being brought here.”
“I’ll see that it’s done, sir.”
He handed the folded paper to Becker, then took his wallet from his back pocket. He thumbed through English banknotes, selected a few, then handed them to Becker. “This should take care of the bill.”
Grant followed Adler outside. They broke into a jog, heading over to the barracks, when Adler asked with a raised eyebrow, “And just how well do you know this Miss Hall?” He opened the door, letting Grant go ahead of him.
“Like I said, she’s the desk clerk at the hotel.”
“There’s gotta be more to the story! Be assured we will be continuing this conversation later,” Adler laughed.
Chapter 11
Flying about two miles off the coast, the Sea King started making several passes along that stretch of water. Nothing had been spotted during the flight out. The pilot turned east, maneuvering the chopper closer inland, then started the same routine, flying north, south, then reverse. With the speed and direction of the current, any debris should have floated closer to the beach.
Grant and Adler sat at the edge of the cargo doorway, dressed in wetsuits, booties, and swim fins, their masks hanging around their necks.
“See anything yet, Joe?” Grant continued looking at the water passing under the chopper.
Adler pressed the binoculars against his eyes, moving his head slowly, trying not to miss one square inch. “Nothing, skipper. Not even a life vest. You sure we’re in the right area?”
“Can’t be sure, that’s why I asked Lieutenant Norris to fly this route. That eighteen footer couldn’t have gone farther out with one small engine. I’m bettin’ somebody was out here waiting for those two men.”
The chopper started banking as Grant heard, “Captain Stevens!” The co-pilot, Lieutenant Taylor, stepped behind him. “Sir, we’re coming up on something. You should be able to see it any time now.”
Both Grant and Adler leaned forward, trying to catch sight of the debris. “I see it, skipper! Two o’clock!”
The pilot reduced speed then slowly brought the chopper to hover fifty feet above the water.
“Looks like it might be part of a door. There’re some broken planks.” Adler lowered the glasses. “Are we gonna go take a peek?”
Grant looked up at Taylor. “Lieutenant, can you take us down to ten feet?”
“Our pleasure, sir! What speed?”
“No more than ten knots. We’ll signal when we’re ready for extraction,” Grant said.
Taylor gave a thumb’s up, then relayed the order to Lieutenant Norris.
In order not to disturb the floating debris, the pilot maneuvered the chopper farther away. The lower the chopper got, the more water swirled and kicked up.
Grant and Adler were ready. They sat in the doorway waiting for the “go” signal. They rubbed some spit inside their masks, put them on, and adjusted the straps.
The green light came on. With their arms close to their chests, their hands pressing their masks against their faces, they left the chopper, first Grant, then Adler three seconds later.
Popping up to the surface, they signaled Taylor with a fist high in the air. Taylor saluted, then stood-by.
Grant and Adler started swimming toward the debris. The current was strong. The debris field had already drifted well past where the smoke had been first spotted.
Grant called, “Gonna take a look!” He pointed down. Taking a deep breath, he disappeared beneath the surface.
He dove straight down, then started swimming back and forth, slowly expanding his search. He looked up, seeing Adler swimming through debris.
The odds of finding anything were slim to none, but he had to give it a shot. If they had more time, he’d have the chopper take them farther north.
He looked down one more time before he started his ascent, breaking the surface about five feet from Adler. Spitting some water from his mouth, he asked, “Anything?”
Adler was hanging onto a large piece of wood, part of a door. He held it toward Grant. “This is what I saw from the chopper. Appears to be some blackening around the edges. With all these pieces, it looks like this boat went ‘boom’ big time.”
Grant examined the wood. “Seen anything with numbers?”
“Not yet.” Adler shoved the wood away.
Treading water, they maneuvered their way through a field of broken, burned debris, most too small to recognize.
“Wait a minute,” Adler called, as he reached for something. He swam back to Grant. “Is this what you’re looking for?”
Grant reached for the piece of wood slightly bigger than his hand. Located near the jagged edge was part of the number five and what looked like the letter J. “What the hell would I do without you?”
“Not much!” Adler laughed. “Have you seen enough? Should I signal for the chopper?”
“Do it!”
Adler lit off the flare then held it high overhead. Within seconds of spotting the red smoke, Norris aimed the chopper for the extraction point.
Taylor double-checked that one end of the ladder was secured, then he dropped the rest over the side. He stood by, ready to assist.
Below, Grant and Adler fought the heavy wash spraying over them and swam toward the ladder. Adler reached up and grabbed hold, then started climbing, with Grant right behind him.